Rivals Cup measures colleges by pro success

Rickie Fowler during his days at Oklahoma State University.
(
Tracy Wilcox
)

By Lance Ringler

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

What a month it has been for UCLA’s Patrick Cantlay. The sophomore-to-be placed second at the NCAA Championship, made the cut and was low amateur at the U.S. Open, shot 60 at the PGA Tour’s Traveler’s Championship where he led after 36 holes and made the cut in the last two PGA Tour events.

Courtesy photo

RivalsCup.net

Not only did Cantlay play this past weekend at the AT&T National, but Oklahoma State’s Peter Uihlein did as well. All of this keeps college golf fresh in the middle of the summer.

And for those of you who have an interest in college golf or follow the PGA Tour, there is now something else that you may want to follow: the Rivals Cup.

The Rivals Cup keeps track of former college players now playing the PGA Tour. Using FedEx Cup points distributed throughout the season for players' performances in PGA Tour events, schools and conferences are ranked.

No surprise here to college golf followers, but Oklahoma State tops the team rankings, with the play of Hunter Mahan, Charles Howell III, Bo Van Pelt and Rickie Fowler leading the way. Georgia Tech and UNLV follow the Cowboys.

But, the Atlantic Coast Conference checks in as the leader in the conference rankings. We often refer to the Pac-10 and the SEC being the best college golf conferencez, but this method of ranking may suggest there is another candidate.

For those golf programs which have seen its players have success at the play-for-pay level, the Rivals Cup is certainly something they may want to become familiar with. This is something the boosters of those schools would brag about and coaches can use when recruiting to provide evidence of success at the next level.

For the rest of us, its simply a fun website and connects the college game to the PGA Tour.

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